


I loaf you very much

by Estelle



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Meddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 18:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13665096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estelle/pseuds/Estelle
Summary: Mal and Eames own a bakery together, and Mal has a crush on one of their customers. Arthur and Eames decide to help things along, and might be falling for each other in the process.





	I loaf you very much

**Author's Note:**

  * For [versions91](https://archiveofourown.org/users/versions91/gifts).



> When I read that my prompt was "sugar", I immedeately thought "bakery!AU", so here we go! I hope you like it, and Happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> I'm not ashamed to admit that I got the title from http://punpedia.org/bread-puns/. Isn't that an amazing website? XD

„And then she laughed this cute little laugh! And oh, have I told you about her hair?” Mal’s hand are flying through the air and her eyes are sparkling as she excitedly describes the girl that has come into their shop every day for the past week.  
Eames grins and nods patiently. Him and Mal own a little bakery together, and since the new office building on the other side of the street has opened, they have a lot of new customers, and it seems that Mal has developed a crush on one of them.  
“But today, it was in a bun”, Mal continues. “And there was this one lock of hair next to her face, I wanted to reach out and tuck it behind her ear. But did I do anything? No, like an idiot, I forgot all my English! “Have a nice day”, I said! _Have a nice day!_ Who says that? Merde! Je suis une idiote complète...” She keeps muttering in French and Eames sighs and puts a hand on her arm.  
“You’re not an idiot. “Have a nice day” is a perfectly normal thing to say to a customer and...”  
He doesn’t get any further, because Mal is shushing him and tugging on his arm, so that now they are crouching behind the counter.  
“Why are we hiding?”, he whispers and feels a bit ridiculous, hiding from customers in their own shop. But then again, they have done crazier things, so he shrugs and looks at Mal expectantly.  
She seems to have a bit of a breakdown though, and Eames worries that maybe it’s not customers after all, but armed robbers or something.  
He tries to peak over the counter, but Mal holds onto his arm. “She’s here! With a guy!”, she hisses, and Eames frowns, and despite Mal’s protests, does peak over the counter now.  
The girl is cute, he has to admit, and exactly Mal’s type, so he gets why she is so flustered all the time. Then his eyes fall on the guy she’s with today, and he swallows as he takes in the perfectly fitting suit that accentuates his figure in all the right places and his impeccably styled hair that Eames badly wants to run his fingers through.  
The guy has come into the bakery the day before, and of course Eames has flirted with him, how could he not have, and it has seemed to him that the guy had liked that, but in hindsight Eames admits that that has probably just been wishful thinking and the guy has just been friendly.  
He crouches back down and sighs. “Sorry”, he whispers to Mal and she shakes her head.  
“No, you deal with this!”, she whispers back and then actually crawls to the door leading to the back room.  
Eames stares after her until someone knocks on the counter and he stands up, facing – _of course_ – the beautiful guy, who looks slightly confused.  
“Are you okay?”, he asks and Eames nods quickly.  
“Yeah, sorry, I was just… doesn’t matter. What can I get you, darling?”  
The man looks surprised at the endearment, and it’s probably Eames’ imagination that he’s also slightly pleased.  
“Black coffee and a soya cappuccino. And two of the vanilla eclairs, please”, he orders, and Eames smiles. He can do this, he’s a professional, he tells himself. And if he stares at the man’s arse when he goes back to his table, no one has to know.

The next day, Mal has decided that she will stay in the back room to bake things, so Eames has to be behind the counter the whole day. They normally share this and take turns baking, but he understands that she doesn’t want to face customers today.  
It’s been a slow day so far, and Eames is sorting napkins, when the doorbell chimes and the guy comes in, without the girl this time.  
Eames straightens and puts on his most charming smile. “Hello, darling! Black coffee?”  
“Yes, thank you, and…” He looks nervous and Eames is intrigued. “Can I ask you something?”  
“Of course.” He has no idea what this might be about.  
The man takes a deep breath. “Your colleague. Is she single?”  
“What?” That was not what he expected at all, and he has to admit, it hurts quite a bit to know that the man is apparently not together with Mal’s crush, but in a weird and heartbreaking turn of events actually interested in her.  
“She is. She’s also gay.”, he says finally, trying to stay friendly, because this is still a customer.  
To his absolute surprise, the man replies: “Oh fantastic!”  
To say that Eames is confused, is an understatement.  
The man must see that, because he continues: “Ariadne – my friend from the other day? - she keeps going on and on about her, but she’s also convinced she has no chance, so I thought I’d help things along.”  
Now Eames is grinning. “That’s just perfect! You see, Mal – my colleague – she’s very much the same!” Suddenly, he has an idea. “Darling, I know what we’re gonna do! It’s Valentine’s day next week, isn’t it?”  
The man smiles at that, and Eames is momentarily mesmerised. “You have dimples”, he says, a little awed, and the man ducks his head, but not before Eames can see his blush.  
“No, no, it’s beautiful”, he reassures him. He almost said “adorable” but he’s sure that the other man would have been even more embarrassed by that. “Anyway, we should exchange numbers? Just to plan Valentine’s for the girls, of course.”  
The man looks up again, and he is grinning. “Of course.”  
He hands his phone to Eames. “I’m Arthur, by the way.”  
Eames smiles, and types his number into Arthur’s phone. “Nice name, darling.”

They text a lot over the next days, not just about their plan for Valentine’s day, and Eames finds that he likes Arthur a lot. He’s smart, and interesting and has a wicked sense of humour that Eames appreciates a lot.

Then Valentine’s day is there and they are hiding in the back room. Eames has convinced Mal to close the shop for the afternoon. Closing a bakery on Valentine’s day is bordering on madness, of course, since they could probably make a fortune, but they have filled all their pre-orders in the morning, and with how exhausting the day always is, Mal has agreed easily.  
He has asked her to clean up in the front, and from the little window in the door, he can see her wiping the counter, when Ariadne comes in, just like Arthur has asked her to.  
She looks around the shop for a moment, seeming confused that there are no other customers, then her eyes settle on the big banner that Eames has hung over the counter. “Be my Valentine?” it declares in bold red letters, and Ariadne frowns, which definitely isn’t according to plan.  
“Is this...for me?”, she asks, sounding accusatory, of all things, and Mal startles and looks up at the banner.  
“I don’t know”, she says slowly. “Eames must hung it up.” She narrows her eyes, clearly thinking, then seems to come to a conclusion. “Who asked you here? Because we’re closed.”  
“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry!” Ariadne looks flustered now. “I didn’t mean to intrude. Just, my friend Arthur asked me here, and I really don’t understand...” She trails off when Mal steps around the counter and comes to stand in from of her.  
“Not your boyfriend then?”, she asks, looking hopeful, and Ariadne shakes her head.  
“Then the banner might indeed be a question for you. From me. If you want, that is.” Mal is becoming flustered herself now, and Ariadne blushes, and reaches for Mal’s hand.  
“Yes, absolutely, yes”, she confirms and Mal smiles brilliantly.

Arthur drags Eames away from the door then, and he is frowning, which Eames can’t understand. Their plan worked, shouldn’t he be happy?  
“You didn’t tell her about any of this?”, he asks, and now Eames frowns, too.  
“Well, what was I supposed to say? _Hey, your crush is coming in the shop today, we arranged for her to be your Valentine?_ That would have ruined all the surprise! Besides, it worked, didn’t it?”, he asks.  
Arthur sighs and his expression relaxes. “Yeah, I guess it did.” He starts to smile, then something seems to occur to him. “Wait, do you have a back door?”  
“Why, you want to leave?” Eames feels unnecessarily hurt by this.  
“At some point, sure. I mean, we can’t just go out there and interrupt them, can we?”, he asks, not seeming to notice Eames’ unhappiness.  
“No, but… I was hoping…” He turns around, takes a deep breath, and hands a cake to Arthur. He prepared it earlier, and it’s a red-velvet cake, covered with chocolate frosting and few sugar roses, and sugar lettering that says “Happy Valentine’s Day, darling”.  
Arthur seems surprised, and he blushes, which Eames likes just as much as the first time he saw it.  
“That’s really really nice, but...”, he starts and Eames’ heart seems to twist in his chest. Has he read this all wrong? Has Arthur just put up with him for the sake of their friends?  
“I don’t like sweet things”, he finishes then and looks embarrassed, and Eames blinks.  
“What?” He’s never met anyone who doesn’t like sugar. “But you’ve ordered that eclair!”, he remembers, and Arthur blushes even more.  
“Ariadne ate most of it. I… you’re a baker, and I didn’t want you to think I’m weird”, he mumbles.  
“Oh darling!” Eames finds him more endearing by the second. “I can make you a bread that says “Be my Valentine”, if you want?”, he offers, and Arthur laughs.  
“I do like bread. Maybe next year, though. You made all this effort, I wouldn’t want the cake go to waste.”  
But Eames waves it off. “Ah, it’s fine. If I sell individual slices, no one can read what it was saying.” Then something Arthur said registers. “Wait, next year?”  
Somehow, Arthur is standing really close to him now, his gaze flickering from Eames eyes to his mouth. “Yeah. If you want.”  
Oh, Eames definitely wants. He has wanted since the first time Arthur entered his shop. And now it seems that he can have.  
Smiling, he leans forward and Arthur meets him for a kiss that is slow and exploring and altogether perfect.

(The next year, the shop is closed for Valentine’s again, and Mal and Ariadne share chocolate cupcakes, while Arthur can’t stop grinning about the bread letters that Eames has made him. They might be saying something dirty.)


End file.
